Rufflers for sewing machines



May 9, 1961 J. P. ENOS RUFFLERS FOR SEWING MACHINES INVENTOR. BY JOHN P. ENOS Filed April 10, 1959 WYTWSS' ATTORNEY United tates Patent 9 RUFFLERS FOR SEWING MACHINES- John P. Enos, Union, NJ., assignor to The Singer Manufactoring Company, Elizabeth, NJ., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Apr. 10, 1959, Ser. No. 805,586

2 Claims. (Cl. 112135) This invention relates to rufiiers of the type adapted for use with a so-called slant-needle sewing machine, a slant-needle sewing machine being one in which the needle reciprocates at an angle with respect to the bed plate of the machine, and the invention has for one of its objects to provide an improved device of this character.

For many years rufliers have been used with sewing machines to produce gathered or pleated ruflles. These rufilers can be adjusted to form pleats of various widths and can also be adjusted to produce a pleat every twelfth stitch, every sixth stitch or every single stitch formed bythe sewing machine. The rufilers can also be set to permit the sewing machine to do straight stitching without rufiling.

Conventional rufilers include a shank for attachment to the lower end of the sewing machine presser bar. This shank supports a frame having a stud which pivotally mounts an operating lever having a C-shaped opening encompassing the sewing machine needle clamp screw. Every time the needle reciprocates the operating lever rocks about the stud. The said stud also pivotally supports a pendulous lever, the free end of which is pivotally connected to a rufiler blade carrier, which as the name implies, carries a rufller blade designed to produce a pleat every time itis moved forward. In order to control the rocking of the pendulous lever as the operating lever rocks, the aforesaid stud carries a pair of ratchet wheels.

One of these wheels has eleven shallow notches and one deep notch. The other wheel has ten shallow notches and two equally spaced deep notches. The previously mentioned operating lever carries a turnably mounted pawl which may be adjusted to assume any one of four difierent positions. In one position, the pawl registers with and engages a shoulder on the pendulous lever every time the needle reciprocates. This causes the rutfler to produce one pleat for every stitch the sewing machine makes. In a second position, the pawl engages the ratchet wheel which has the two deep teeth. In this instance the pawl is held out of register with the shoulder on the pendulous lever except when the pawl falls into a deep tooth. These two deep teeth allow the pawl to operate the pendulous lever every sixth stitch. In a third position the pawl engages the ratchet wheel which has one deep tooth. This single deep tooth allows the pawl to register with the pendulous lever every twelfth stitch. In a fourth position, the pawl is held from engagement with the ratchet wheels and the pendulous lever and thus allows the sewing machine to do unruflled stitching. An adjusting contact screw, carried by the aforesaid operating lever, engages either a portion of the pendulous lever itself or a small lever carried thereby. Because of this contact, the pendulous lever is returned to its starting position after each pleat forming stroke.

Expired United States Patent No. 1,787,692 shows a miller which for many years has been used with verticaltype sewing machine, and which operates in the manner described above. The present invention is an improvement on the previously known rufllers of the type de ice scribed above and shown in United States Patent No. 1,787,692.

With the above and other objects in view, as will hereinafter appear, the invention comprises the devices, combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter set forth and illustrated in the accompanying drawings of a preferred embodiment of the invention, from which the several features of the invention and the advantages attained thereby, will be readily understood by those skilled in: the an In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is an enlarged elevational side view of a rufiler embodying the present invention, dash-dash lines being used to show alternate positions of various parts,

Fig. 2. is a fragmentary view showing parts of the miller disposed in positions other than those shown in Fig. Land Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Referring more specifically to the drawings it will be understood that the present rufiler, indicated generally by the numeral 16, is sinr'lar to ruillers previously used and to the rufiler shown in the expired United States Patent No. 1,787,692 in that both the present rufller 16 and previous rufllers have the following in common. The rufiler frame 17 has a shank 18 which is adapted to be supported from the lower end of a sewing machine presser bar 19. The upreaching arm 21 of the frame 17 carries a stud 22 which pivotally mounts a pair of ratchet wheels 23-23. The stud 22 also rockably mounts a pendulous lever 24 and an operating lever 26, the stud 22 engaging the lever 24 at a location adjacent to its upper end, and the stud 22 engaging the lever 26 at a location intermediate its two ends 27 and 28. The free lower end of the pendulous lever 24, by means of a pivot 29, is connected to one end of the rufiler blade carrier 31 and a miller blade 32 is secured to the carrier 31. The free end of the carrier 31 has a hook forming a shoulder 33, which oy reason of engaging a pin 34 limits movement, in one direction, of the carrier 31. The end 27 of the operating lever 26 has a C-shaped opening 35 adapted to embrace a needle clamp screw 36 which is carried by the needle bar (not shown) of the sewing machine to which the miller 16 is attached. A spring detent pawl 38 is riveted to the rear side (Fig. l) of the upreaching arm 21 of the frame 17. The end 28 of the lever 26 has a heel 39 and the pendulous lever 24 has a shoulder 41, which is adapted, under certain circumstances to be engaged by the end of a pawl 42 formed as part of a pawl-carrying plate 43 which is supported from a rearwardly extending lug 44 formed on the operating lever 26. The lever 26 also turnably supports an adjustable contact screw 46 which may engage one end of a small lever 47 which is pivotally carried on a shoulder 48 formed as part of the pendulous lever 24. Both ratchet wheels 23-23" have a plurality of shallow notches 53 and at least one deep notch 54. These notches are entered by the end of the pawl 42 as the operating lever 26 is rocked about the stud 22. Additional information regarding the previously known rufiler may be obtained by reference to United States Patent No. 1,787,692, supra.

The present rufller 16 differs from previously used rufllers in the following manner.

(a) .The angle of the presser-bar engaging shank 18 has been changed from vertical to a slanting position to accommodate the slanting presser-bar 19 of the slantneedle sewing machine.

(b) The C-shaped opening 35 has been made slightly smaller.

(c) The distance between the shoulder 33 and the center of the pivot 29 has been increased.

i a a a 3 (d) The upper end of the spring detent pawl 38 has been lengthened slightly.

(e) The pendulous lever 24 has been provided with a new lug or member 58 which extends to the right (Fig. 1) beyond the edge of the lever 24 and outwardly from the front face (Fig. 1) thereofe to a suflicientdistance to be engageable by the heel 39 "of the operating lever 26.

The changes decribed in the above items (a) to (07), inclusive, were made in order that the miller 16 could be used with slant-needle sewing machines and in order to cause the rufller to produce deep pleats. Specifically the changes described in items (a) to (d), inclusive caused the ruflier 16 to generate more motion. Increasing the distance between the shoulder 33 and the pivot 29 permitted the ruffler blade carrier 31 and the pendulous lever 24 to move so far to'the right (see the solid line position in Fig. 1 and the dash-dash position in Fig; 2) that the pawl 42 when it falls into the deep notch 54 would be unable to engage the shoulder 41 of thependulous lever 24. This extended position of the rulfier blade carrier 31 and the lever 24 may result from the operator actually moving these items to the right (Fig. l), or the extended position may occur when material engaging the rudder blade 32 is shifted to the right (Fig. '1). If the pawl 42 failed to engage the shoulder 41, the ruflier 16 would fail to make a pleat. In 'order' to avoid the above noted difiiculty, the lug 58 was placed between the two ends of the pendulous lever 24 at a location where it would be engagedby the heel 39 of the operating lever 26 every time the needle (not shown) and the needle clamp screw 36 are raised. When the heel 39 engages the lug 58 the pendulous lever 24 is reset to a position (the dash-dash position of Fig. 1 and the solid line position of Fig. 2) such that the pawl 42'cannot miss the shoulder 41, when the said pawl 42 drops into the deep notch 54. Because of the above, it has been possible to adopt the rufiler 16 for use with a slant-needle sewing machine, and to generate more motion and thus produce deeper pleats and at the same time provide a rufller that is reliable.

In operation, the improved rufiler 16 performs'as follows. When the needle clamp screw 36 moves upwardly from the solid line position shown in Fig. 1 to dash-dash position, the operating lever 26 'is rocked clockwise about the stud 22 until the lever 26 assumes the dash-dash positionshown in Fig. 1; As the lever 26 is raised, the pawl 42 enters one of the notches 53 and/or 54 in one or both of the ratchet wheels 23- 23. If the pawl 42 enters one or more shallow notches. 53, only the ratchet wheel or wheels turn, but ifthe pawl 42 falls into a deep notch 54 (Fig; 2) the pawl 42 engages the shoulder 41 and causes the pendulous lever 24 to move the carrier 31 lengthwise thus causing the blade 32 to form a ruflie. When the operating lever 26 moves counterclockwise from the dashdash position shown in Fig. 1 to the solid position, the

screw 46 engages the end of the small lever 47 and turns the pendulous lever counterclockwise to withdraw the blade 32. Under certain conditions the carrier 31 and the lever 24 may move far to the right to the dash-dash position shown in Fig. 2. In this position the pawl 42 would miss engagement with the shoulder 41 the next time it fell into one of the deep notches 54. However, each time the operating lever 26 rocks clockwise about the stud 22, the heel 39 depresses the lug 58 to the dash-dash position shown in Fig. '1 and resets or rocks the pendulous lever 24 sufliciently so that the shoulder 41 will be engaged by the pawl 42 the next time the said pawl 42 falls into a deep notch 54. Thus, if it were not for the lug 58, the rufller blade 32 could become inoperative, but because of the lug 58 the miller 16 will work perfectly.

Having thus described the nature of the invention, what I claim herein is:

l. A sewing machine rufiier comprising in combination a frame, an operating lever, a pivot pin carried by said frame and pivotally mounting said operating lever, means for rockingsaid operating lever, an adjustable contact screw carried by said operating lever, a heel formed on said operating lever, a pawl carried by said operating lever, a pendulous lever pivotally mounted on said frame, a rufller-blade carrier pivotally connected'to said pendulous lever, a rufiler blade carried by said miller-blade carrier, a shoulder formed on said pendulous lever and positioned to be engaged by said adjustable contact screw thereby to cause said rufiier blade to be withdrawn after a ruflie has been produced, a lugformed on said pendulous lever and positioned to be engaged by the heel formed on said operating lever thereby to cause said pendulous lever and said ruffier blade to be reset a short distance in the din'ection required to produce a ruflle, and a second shoulder formed on said pendulous lever and positioned to be engaged by said pawl thereby to cause said ruflier blade to produce a ruflle.

' 2'. A sewing machine rufiler comprising in combination a frame, an operating lever, a pivot pin carried by said frame and pivotally mounting said operating lever, means for rocking said operating lever, an adjustable contact screw cam'ed by said operating lever, a heel formed on said operating lever, a pawl carried by said operating lever, a pendulous lever pivotally mounted on said frame, a rufiie'r-blade carrier pivotally connected to said pendulous lever, a ruffler blade carried by said rufiler-blade carrier, a shoulder formed on one side edge of said pendulous lever and positioned to be engaged by said adjustable contact screw thereby to cause said ruffler blade to be withdrawn after a ruflie has been produced, a lug formed on the other side edge of said pendulous lever and positioned to be engaged by the heel formed on said operating lever thereby to cause said pendulous lever and said ruffler blade to be reset a short distance in the direction required to produce a rufile, and a second shoulder formed on one end of saidpendulous lever and positioned to be engaged by said pawl thereby to cause said ruffler blade to produce'a rufile.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

